Capital Punishment is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Throughout history people have been put to death for various forms of wrongdoing. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or shooting.
             The practice of capital punishment is as old as government itself. For most of history, it has not been considered controversial. Since ancient times most governments have punished a wide variety of crimes by death and have conducted executions as a routine part of the administration of criminal law. However, in the mid-18th century, social commentators in Europe began to emphasize the worth of the individual and to criticize government practices they considered unjust, including capital punishment. The controversy and debate over whether governments should utilize the death penalty today.
             The only moral justification for killing a person is direct self-defense. When a criminal is confined in prison, he does not threaten society, so killing him is not justified by self defense. And even if capital punishment deters others from committing similar crimes, this would be an indirect defense against murder rather than directly from the criminal being killed. Direct self-defense implies killing someone who himself, at that
             Time, is a threat to other persons, and this precludes taking human life just for punishment.
             There are four morally justified purposes for punishment. First, is the protection of society. The second morally proper reason for punishment is to reform and rehabilitate the criminal. The third legitimate reason for punishment is deterrence. The fourth and last reason for proper punishment is restitution of the damage. None of these four morally legitimate reason...